3 Proven Ways to Export Text Messages from iPhone

They connect friends, family and people from all over the world. In the US alone, over six billion texts are sent every single day (8.6 trillion every year globally).

On a personal level, our text messages threads are a gold mine of special memories.

We share some of our favourite photos, priceless messages from our loved ones and hilarious group chats that are great to look back on like a verbal photobook. When it comes to the iPhone, your text messages are not protected.

Memory quickly fills up, things need to be deleted, the software crashing, and unsuccessful updates are all problems that can jeopardize the existence of your beloved messages, but this doesn’t have to be the case when you learn how to copy text messages from iPhone.

Using third-party software, you can protect your text messages, backing them up onto your computer to live on for another day. Here’s everything you need to know on how to do this using dr.fone - Recover (iOS).

Export SMS From iPhone Directly

The most popular method to back up your text messages directly is using the dr.fone - Recover (iOS) software. This is the method that you’ll be looking for most of the time and will allow you to transfer the text messages that are on your iPhone to your computer.

Using dr.fone - Recover (iOS) is incredibly beneficial in this situation. This is because you can choose to solely export your SMS messages selectively. This saves having to backup the entire contents of your device and allows you access to your messages themselves.

Note: Before you start learning how to copy text messages from iphone, make sure that you’re running the most up-to-date version of iTunes.

You’ll also want to make sure that the automatic syncing feature is turned off. You can do this by clicking Devices > Preferences and then check the tick box that reads ‘Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically’.

Step #1 – Download the software, which is compatible with Windows (32-64-bit) and Mac computers. There’s even a free 30-day trial version to get you started.

Step #2 - Once downloaded, install the software on your computer in the usual way. You can follow the on-screen instructions on how to do this successfully.

Step #3 - Connect your iPhone (or another iOS device) to your computer using a lightening or USB cable. If this is the first time you’ve connected your device to your computer, you’ll need to accept the ‘Trusted Computers’ notification that will appear on your device.

Step #4 - On the main menu, click the ‘Recover’ option.

Step #5 - Using the checkboxes, select the type of messages that you wish to restore. When you’re ready, press ‘Start Scan’.

This will start a scan that will find all the text messages on your device. This will only take a few minutes.

Step #6 - A results page will open, and your messages will be displayed as your scan finds them. You can pause the search at any time if you see the messages you want to export.

Otherwise, you can wait until all the results are displayed.

Step #7 - Using the menus on the left-hand side, you’ll be able to filter through the results, or using the search bar.

Step #8 - Use the checkboxes to select the text messages you want to export. You can even find and recover messages you thought you deleted.

Step #9 - Click the ‘Recover to Computer’ button and your text messages will be available on your computer.

How To: Export Text Messages from iPhone Directly

Export iPhone Messages from iTunes Backup

While the method above works well most of the time, if your message has been deleted and you’ve come back to your phone, perhaps months later, and realized it's gone and restorable. However, if your text messages are backed up in an iTunes backup file, you can find it once again.

Step #2 - In the next window, use the menu on the left-hand side to select ‘Recover from iTunes Backup File’. Then, select a backup file and click "Start Scan".

Step #3 - As the scan progresses, you’ll see your available text messages from your iTunes backup file will start to appear in the results window. If you see the text messages that you want to export, you can pause the scan at any time, or wait until it’s over.

Step #4 - You can use the checkboxes to select the messages you wish to export before pressing ‘Recover to Computer’ so they are available and backed up at all times.

How To: Export Text Messages from iPhone Using iTunes Backup

Export Messages from iPhone Through iCloud Backup

Finally, one of the most uncommon yet still possible ways you can find your text messages if they are gone, or you want to back them up is looking for them in an iCloud backup file. This is entirely possible through dr.fone - Recover (iOS).